First published in 1857, The Hasheesh Eater was the first full-length American example of drug literature and became a cult classic among Beat writers of the 1950s and 60s and the San Francisco counterculture of the 1970s. Fitz Hugh Ludlow was a recent graduate of Union College in Schenectady, New York, when he began consuming large quantities of hashish, which was a legal remedy for lockjaw at the time. Ludlow vividly recorded his hashish-induced visions, experiences, adventures, and insights, describing a psychedelic journey that led to extended reflections on religion, philosophy, medicine, and culture. In this scholarly edition, editor Stephen Rachman positions Ludlow's enduring work as both a chronicle of drug use and also as a window into the budding American bohemian literary scene.